Split verdict in Aurora officers' trial for Elijah McClain's death indicates complexity of case, attorneys say
Split verdict in Aurora officers' trial for Elijah McClain's death indicates complexity of case, attorneys say
More than four years after Elijah McClain’s death in Aurora, the first of three criminal trials ended with a split verdict for the two police officers involved.
Attorneys who spoke to The Denver Gazette said the verdicts seemed thoughtful, and they didn’t believe the jurors treated their decisions as a “compromise” with the mindset they needed to convict on at least something.
McClain died in 2019 several days after a struggle with police officers and an injection of ketamine by a paramedic.
After deliberating for nearly two full days, Adams County jury convicted Officer Randy Roedema of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault, and acquitted former officer Jason Rosenblatt of all charges (he also faced a count of second-degree assault). They both faced reckless manslaughter charges as well, with criminally negligent homicide as a lesser included count.
“What makes (the split verdict) thoughtful is that you can distinguish between Rosenblatt and Roedema,” said George Brauchler, a former district attorney for the 18th Judicial District.
“Roedema was the more experienced officer. He was on top of McClain longer, at a period closer in time to the ketamine. Rosenblatt hadn't been on him for some period of time before the ketamine was injected. ... Just stuff like that could form the basis for that distinction.”
Roedema, the most senior of the three officers who stopped McClain, was accused of keeping him facedown while pinned on the ground instead of making sure he was on his side to breathe and, at one point, yanking on his arm. Body-worn camera footage also shows him slamming McClain’s torso into the ground after McClain says, “I can’t fix myself.”
Roedema’s attorneys argued at trial he used less force than actually would have been justified because he believed McClain was violently resisting. Roedema believed he saw McClain try to grab Rosenblatt’s gun, and the officers had to react to a rapidly evolving situation, they said.
The officers also told a sergeant McClain, who weighed about 140 pounds, was showing extreme strength.
Rosenblatt's attorneys argued at trial that, as the most junior officer on the scene, he was listening to Roedema and didn't have time to question whether McClain actually tried to grab his gun. They also said Rosenblatt stepped away from the struggle for several minutes toward the end.
Three officers first stopped 23-year-old McClain on Aug. 24, 2019, as he walked home from a convenience store: Roedema, Rosenblatt and Officer Nathan Woodyard. McClain wore a black mask. Prosecutors said he did that because he was often cold and was listening to music. The officers had responded to a 911 call by a person who reported McClain was acting suspiciously.
The officers took McClain to the ground, and Woodyard put him in a type of neck hold – authorized by the Aurora Police Department at the time -- that caused him to briefly lose consciousness by restricting oxygen flow to his brain. About 18 minutes into the struggle, a paramedic who responded to the scene injected McClain with the sedative ketamine.
He went into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing. He died a few days later in a hospital.
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